Surprise?
by melizabethp
Summary: It's Juniper and Grover's two year anniversary but Juniper can't seem to find Grover anywhere. {Gruniper oneshot with some small portions of Chrisse and Percabeth}


"Grover! Agh, where has that stupid satyr gone off to now?" Juniper called out frustrated into the forest of Camp Half Blood. A couple trees rustled, as if annoyed Juniper had to be searching for her boyfriend _so early _in the morning_. _Juniper sighed and called out to the trees, "I'm _sorry_! But I can't find Grover anywhere!"

"I saw him come through this way earlier," a voice said from behind Juniper. Juniper twirled around and found her sister, Maple, behind her. "He looked like he was on his way to a Council meeting." Maple informed Juniper.

"Another one?" Juniper pouted, "That's the third one this week! That satyr can't seem to find any time for his girlfriend lately."

"Well don't stand there moping. Go see if his meeting is almost over." Maple scolded, "You're waking up the monsters." Juniper thanked her sister and began walking toward the clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders held their meetings.

When she arrived, the clearing was almost completely empty except for one of the older council members and Piper, who had been out walking Mrs. O'Leary. The old satyr seemed to be discussing something with Piper. No sign of Grover. Juniper stamped her foot, frustrated with her boyfriend and approached Piper and the satyr to ask about him.

"-don't believe that there is a whole war bunker hidden away in the forest without the Council being informed of it's existence!" the satyr, who happened to be Silineus, was saying to Piper. He suddenly noticed Juniper and turned to her, "I suppose you're here looking for that upstart, Grover Underwood." Juniper nodded. "He's not here." the satyr said and turned back to his conversation with Piper.

Piper crossed her arms, ignored the protests of the old satyr about Bunker 9, and turned to Juniper. "Grover was just here." she said, "But he had to run to the Big House to file a paper for Mr. D. I'm heading towards Bunker 9 if you want to walk with me." Piper smiled and Juniper agreed to walk with her.

"Miss McLean, I believe we were in the middle of a conversation!" Silineus called as they turned around, "You can't just-" The old satyr yelped as he was cut off by Piper's high-pitched whistle and Mrs. O'Leary came bounding out of the woods and he ran to hide behind a tree.

"See you later, Silineus," Piper called over her shoulder at the satyr who was shaking behind a maple tree.

The three walked in silence for a bit until Piper looked over at Juniper and asked, "What's wrong Juniper? You look upset."

Juniper let out a sigh and said, "Today is mine and Grover's two year anniversary and I haven't seen him much all week and I thought maybe it was because he was planning something special for today but here we are and I can't even find him! I know he didn't forget because Grover never forgets anything. I find good memories very attractive you know. So I think maybe he doesn't care about our anniversary. Or maybe he just doesn't care about me at all!" Juniper took a deep breath and glanced over at Piper, pouting. Piper grinned as though amused by Juniper although Juniper had no idea what she could find so amusing during a time like this.

"Juniper, you know Grover still cares about you a lot. He wouldn't have stayed with you for two years if he didn't. You know how busy Grover's been with "preserving the wild" and all. It's possible that he really did forget." Piper consoled.

"I know, I know. I was just hoping that today was going to be special. I even bought him a six pack of Olympus's finest aluminium cans! I don't think he even got me _anything_," Juniper sniffled and her shoulders drooped. Mrs. O' Leary came and sat beside her. Piper bit her lower lip, betraying her conflicting emotions. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, another voice rang out from the trees.

"_Beauty Queen! You're late. Again__._" Leo called out to Piper although they were still a few dozen yards away from Bunker 9. Piper rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at one of the trees.

"Um he's not up in that tree... Is he?" Juniper asked warily.

"No, don't worry. Recently, he set up some "security cameras" and an intercom system around this place. Although I'm not sure if it's for security reasons or just to annoy the other campers."

"_Aw c'mon Pipes, you know me better than that. It's for both!_"

Juniper turned to Piper, raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why does he need you here anyway? You don't know anything about mechanics do you?" Piper's eyes grew panicked for a moment before she composed herself again.

"Because I-"

"_Because I asked her to bring me some food from camp. I'm starving in here!_" Leo hastily called out. Juniper's eyebrows furrowed together in suspicion.

"But Piper doesn't have any-"

"Bye Juniper! Hope you find Grover!" Piper had already bolted towards the entrance of the bunker with Mrs. O' Leary at her heels and was inside before Juniper could utter another word.

She sighed loudly and began the rest of her lonely trek to the Big House. It was a beautiful, warm, spring day at Camp Half Blood. The smell of strawberries was in the air and demigod laughter could be heard everywhere now that the war was over. As she walked through the camp, she noticed Chris and Clarisse wrestling in the arena. Clarisse had pinned her boyfriend down and was beaming as she leaned down to kiss him. Juniper looked away and her lip quivered.

As she walked past the strawberry field, she noticed Percy and Annabeth sitting in the middle of a row of strawberries. They were feeding each other the sweet fruit when Annabeth came upon a particularly juicy one and decided to smear Percy's face with strawberry juice. Then she quickly hopped up onto her feet and bolted off, laughing with Percy close behind in pursuit, holding a handful of strawberries and grinning a mischievous grin. Juniper tore her eyes from the happy scene and felt tears pricking behind her eyes. She refused to shed them though. She had to find her boyfriend. She continued to stomp up to the Big House with renewed determination.

Juniper finally arrived at the Big House and found Chiron sitting out on the porch playing pinochle with Mr. D and Semour the stuffed leopard head. Juniper wasn't sure how that worked, seeing as Semour was only a head, and she wasn't about to ask. As Juniper walked up to the porch she noticed Grover wasn't amongst the group and groaned. It shouldn't be this hard to find one's boyfriend on their anniversary. Nonetheless, she bowed in greeting to Dionysus and said hello to Chiron.

"Good afternoon Juniper." Chiron greeted her, "What can we do for you?"

"Piper told me that Grover had to come to Big House to run an errand for Mr. D," she glanced over at the wine god who apparently already lost interest and was studying his cards intently. "I was just wondering if he was still around here."

"My dear, I'm afraid you just missed him." Chiron told her as he laid down a winning hand of cards. Mr. D slammed the table with his fist in frustration, which caused Semour to hiss, and uttered a curse in Greek. Something about Chiron's _ancient horse's bottom_. Chiron smiled pleasantly. "Last I saw, he was heading down to the lake with Miranda from Demeter's Cabin and Lacey from Aphrodite's." Juniper felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes. He was hanging out with other girls on their anniversary?

"And good riddance to him! He made me lose my concentration," Mr. D said while popping open a can of Diet Coke. Juniper's lip started to quiver again. _How could he?_

"To be fair Mr. D, I believe you were already losing before Grover showed up." Chiron reminded him gently. Juniper burst into tears. _She had been right. He didn't care about her._

Mr. D and Chiron both stared at the emotional nymph with complete bafflement. "Now, now. None of that." Chiron patted her on the arm though still obviously puzzled as to what had caused her outburst. He led her into the Big House and sat her down on the couch, "Maybe you should rest for a bit, my dear. If you need anything, I will be outside." Chiron placed a glass of lemonade beside her and walked outside again.

Juniper continued to sob and hiccup but eventually calmed herself down enough to take a sip of lemonade. All she had wanted to do was enjoy a nice spring day with her boyfriend. And now she was having an emotional breakdown. Why was Grover hanging out with those other girls instead of coming to find her? Miranda was really good with plants but not better than a nymph surely. Juniper huffed indignantly. Lacey certainly was very pretty and sweet but she wasn't Grover's type. Or was she?

Juniper found herself to be exhausted and shifted into a reclined position on the couch. Her mind spun with thoughts of her boyfriend and she decided to close her eyes for a few minutes.

She dreamt of the first time they kissed.

_Juniper squealed with laughter as she darted through the trees in the forest, avoiding Grover as he chased after her, a huge smile on his face. He was faster than she thought but she wasn't going to give up so easily. Suddenly, she ducked behind a tree causing him to run right past her before he realized __what had happened__. By the time he turned around, she was already running in the other direction. Grover laughed and continued chasing her. They kept that up all afternoon until Juniper was huffing and panting. She glanced over her shoulder and didn't spot Grover. She slowed her pace. He must have been tired as well. She slowed herself to a stop and kept her eyes on the path she had just run up, anticipating his pursuit. _

_ All of a sudden, she felt hands wrap themselves around her waist __from behind. She started to scream until she captor turned her around to face him. _

_ "Grover!" she exclaimed and threw her arms around his neck. He laughed and swung her around. Then he put her down but held on to both of her hands. He looked at her and a blush started to creep up his cheeks. _

_ "Juniper, I really like you," He told her, still blushing. Juniper smiled hugely._

_ "I really like you too Grover!" She said. His eyes widened._

_ "Really?"_

_ "Of course silly!" she exclaimed as she snaked her hands up his arms and locked them behind his neck, "If I didn't, would I do this?" And she kissed him._

_ Grover froze as if he was going to fall over __and pass out but __then__ he__ relaxed. He placed his hand on her waist and drew her closer to him. Juniper was so happy, she could feel it in her toes. Grover broke the kiss._

_ "Juniper, will you be my girlfriend?" Grover asked with a big smile on his face, like he'd never been more happy in his life. _

Juniper woke slowly from her dream, savouring the feeling of happiness that came with thinking about that kiss. She open her eyes and glanced around and then remembered where she was. All the previous feelings of happiness drained out of her. She jumped up off the couch and looked outside the window. The sun was already beginning to set.

Their whole anniversary passed without a word spoken between them! Suddenly, Juniper was furious. How could he act this way after two whole years? She was going to go down to the lake and give that stupid goat a piece of her mind.

As she exited the Big House she slammed the door closed so hard that a piece of the door frame splintered and fell off. She didn't even pause. She would deal with it later. Surely Mr. D would understand.

She began to sprint down to the lake. Campers going to and from the cabins saw her and stared. Some of her friends tried to stop her and ask what was going on but she ignored them. She would explain later. She had something more important to do. Finally, she reached the beach.

"GROVER FREDRICK UNDERWOOD, I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY TO-"

Her sentence trailed off as she took in her surroundings. All different kinds of flowers decorated the beach, filling the air with a freshly sweet scent. Dozens of multicoloured lanterns floated, suspended in mid-air. In the middle of the beach stood a wooden table and two chairs, covered in a checkered cloth with glass dishes set up, as if for a dinner for two. In the middle of the table was a covered silver platter. The aroma that came from whatever was concealed inside of it was so delectable, it made Juniper's stomach rumble, reminding her she hadn't eaten since that morning.

More than a few campers were running around everywhere and there was so much commotion, no one had noticed her outburst. A daughter of Apollo was tuning a violin. Juniper recognized Piper and Leo setting up yet another floating lantern. Miranda Gardiner was ordering around a couple younger boys who were placing flowers along the beach. Lacey was fussing over a guy in a tuxedo whose back was turned to her. Then it hit her. That was _Grover_ in the tuxedo. Her jaw dropped.

Miranda was handing something to him. He turned around to take it from her when he finally noticed Juniper.

"Juniper!" He exclaimed. At that moment all the campers fell silent, turning to face her. The only sound was the water washing up against the beach, "You-You're early," Her boyfriend stammered.

All of a sudden, everyone burst out into argument.

"Who went and got her early?"

"Don't look at me!"

"It was Piper's job to go get her."

"I'm right here!"

"I blame Beauty Queen too!"

"Leo!"

Juniper opened and closed her mouth a couple times, speechless. Finally she decided on the words.

"_What _is going on here?" That shut everyone up.

"Surprise?" Grover said, holding the bouquet out to her. No one moved, waiting in silence for Juniper's reaction.

Then, Juniper's face broke out into the biggest smile as she sprinted across the beach into her boyfriend's arms. He laughed and swung her around then placed her on the ground, still holding onto her hands. "Happy anniversary." He said quietly.

And then Juniper kissed him.


End file.
